Taylor Next Generation 512ce Neo-tropical Mahogany Acoustic-Electric Guitar

6-String | Western Red Cedar Top | Neo-tropical Mahogany Back and Sides | Neo-Tropical Mahogany Neck | West African Crelicam Ebony Fretboard | The Claria Acoustic Pickup System Electronics | Venetian Cutaway | Brown Taylor Deluxe Hard Shell Case

Sure to entice players who love the compact, accommodating feel of the Grand Concert body shape, the Next Generation 512ce serves up a beautifully warm, woody voice to complement its articulation and fundamental focus. Back and sides of solid mahogany pair with a top of Western Red cedar to produce a sweet character with remarkable touch sensitivity and balance across the frequency spectrum, while the scalloped V-Class bracing inside adds more volume, open-string resonance and sustain. Other Next-Gen features include the Action Control Neck for smooth fretting and fast string height adjustments as well as Taylor's new Claria electronics, which delivers clean, usable plugged-in tone for live performance and recording applications. Visual details include pristine white binding with black/white/black top purfling, a single-ring green abalone rosette, a faux-tortoiseshell pickguard, Meridian fretboard and peghead inlays in Italian acrylic, and a full-body natural gloss finish.

• Solid cedar top generates a warm, sweet response
• Mahogany back and sides yield woody, dry midrange
• Compact Grand Concert body for a comfortable feel and clear sound
• Scalloped V-Class bracing enhances warmth, resonance and sustain
• Includes Claria electronics and a deluxe hardshell case

FEATURES

Next-Gen Tone and Feel Meet Grand Concert Comfort

Cedar and mahogany combine in this compact Grand Concert frame to produce a beautifully rich, sweet, warm voice with clear articulation across the entire fretboard.

Grand Concert Body: The small-body Grand Concert debuted in 1984 to meet the needs of a new wave of adventurous acoustic fingerstyle players. In contrast to the traditionally darker, boomier voices of bigger body styles like dreadnoughts and jumbos, the GC’s compact size and tapered waist kept the overtones in check. It was also more comfortable to play while sitting down, and the guitar’s slightly wider neck gave players more room for complex fingerings. The GC’s smaller sonic footprint also fit cleanly in a mix with other instruments when tracking in the studio and with a band on stage, making it a useful tool for professional session and side players. Taylor's current generation of GC models continues to accommodate fingerstylists with finger-friendly traits like a shorter 24 7/8-inch scale length, which makes fretting easier and adds a slightly slinkier feel on the strings due to the lighter string tension. If you feel more comfortable with a small body or favor controlled overtones, a Grand Concert is a great option.

The smallest of Taylor’s full-size body shapes. Its compact dimensions make for a physically comfortable guitar with an intimate feel and sound. The smaller footprint keeps the overtones in check, contributing to a focused, articulate sound that’s well-suited for recording and stage work.

Grand Concert Specifications: 19 1/2" / Body Width: 15" / Body Depth: 4 3/8"

Tropical Mahogany: Mahogany is known for its meaty midrange character, featuring a strong fundamental focus often described as “punchy,” “woody,” or “dry,” because it doesn’t produce a lot of ringing overtones. Mahogany’s earthy voice has been featured on many roots music recordings over the years.

Origin: India/Guatemala

Sound: Mahogany is a good wood to anchor a discussion of tones, as a lot of other wood tones can be described in relation to it. Its essential sonic profile is well represented in the midrange frequencies. Acoustic guitars in general tend to live in the midrange portion of the sound spectrum, but mahogany in particular displays a lot of midrange character. That thick, present midrange sound is sometimes described in guitar circles as meaty, organic or even chewy; wherever a player digs in on the fretboard, they're tapping into the core of the harmonic content of what a guitar produces. Those great midrange frequencies produce overtones that stack up and produce bloom, giving the sound extra girth. When one hears the resulting harmonics, the chewy tone serves up a big mouthful of midrange. As a popular tonewood for many decades, mahogany has been used on scads of old school acoustic recordings, and that sonic heritage carries across various strains of roots music, from blues to folk to slack key.

Goes Well With: A broad range of players and musical styles; people who like a well-balanced tone, nice dynamic range and a healthy serving of overtones. Blues and other rootsy players tend to respond well to mahogany's midrange character. A smaller body mahogany guitar (GC or GA) might appeal to fingerstyle players, whereas more aggressive flatpickers might opt for a mahogany Dreadnought or GS. For versatility, a mahogany GA is a good bet. Because of mahogany's midrange, a player with "dark hands" will tend to sound darker on a mahogany guitar. A bright player will sound slightly less bright.

Long-Tenon Neck Joint: Taylor's proprietary long-tenon design features a tenon that protrudes beyond the neck heel and extends deeper into a precision-routed pocket in the body’s neck block. This changes the wood coupling in a way that’s comparable to traditional guitar necks. The long tenon increases the stiffness of the heel, which translates into more low-end resonance and a deeper, warmer, more open sound.

Instant Action Control: The Action Control Neck refines the micro-adjustability of Taylor's standard neck design with a new shimless design that allows a player to make easy, quick micro-adjustments to dial in the string height for any situation. You don’t have to remove the neck or even the strings.

Western Red Cedar: Cedar is less dense than spruce, and that softness typically translates into a sense of sonic warmth. If Sitka has a full dynamic range, cedar makes quieter tones louder, but it also imposes more of a ceiling on high volume levels driven by an aggressive attack. If one tries to drive a cedar top hard, at a certain point it will reach a volume limit. Typically, players with a lighter touch sound wonderful on a cedar-top guitar, fingerstyle players especially — that lighter touch will be amplified a little more, and one's attack never reaches the ceiling. Flatpickers are likely to hit the ceiling fast, and might be frustrated by an inability to get the tonal output to match their attack.

Cedar's color can range from lighter to darker.

Origin: Pacific NW/USA

Goes Well With: Fingerstylists, players with a lighter touch, mahogany and rosewood GA, GS and GC bodies.

Claria Acoustic Pickup System: Designed for live performance with input from touring artists and front-of-house engineers, Taylor’s new Claria™ pickup system delivers clear, reliable amplified acoustic tone in virtually any setting — from live stage performances to home recording studios.

Pro-Tested: Claria combines a reimagined under-saddle piezo pickup with a proprietary preamp to deliver easy, adaptable stage-ready acoustic tone. Refined over several years alongside touring musicians and live sound engineers, Claria was shaped in a wide range of real-world environments.

Natural Tone. Anywhere You Plug In: Built for reliability and versatility, Claria offers intuitive tone shaping that helps players dial in the tone they want wherever they plug in. Whether you’re performing solo, playing with a band, or even plugging in to record at home, Claria makes it easy to get a natural, adaptable amplified voice.

Venetian Cutaway: The Venetian cutaway is known for its soft, round lines. The sloping peak of the cutaway will vary depending on the shape of the body. The Grand Concert and Grand Auditorium have a steeper slope, while the Dreadnought is a bit flatter. Taylor's Grand Concert nylon-string models also feature a subtle, flatter slope, while Taylor's 200 Series cutaway models incorporate their flattest slope.

SPECIFICATIONS

General

• Number of Strings: 6 String
• Orientation: Right Handed
• Body Shape: Grand Concert
• Bracing System: Scalloped V-Class Bracing with Relief Rout
• Cutaway: Venetian Cutaway
• Electronics: The Claria Acoustic Pickup System
• Case/Bag: Brown Taylor Deluxe Hard Shell Case

Body

• Top Wood: Western Red Cedar
• Back/Side Wood: Neo-Tropical Mahogany
• Rosette: Green Abalone Single Ring
• Back Configuration: 2-piece No Wedge
• Body Binding: White
• Armrest: No
• Top Finish: Gloss
• Back/Side Finish: Gloss

Neck

• Neck Wood: Neo-Tropical Mahogany
• Fretboard Wood: West African Crelicam Ebony
• Neck Profile: Standard Carve
• Fretboard Inlay: Faux Pearl Meridian
• Fretboard Binding: Black
• Neck Finish: Satin

Peghead

• Nut Width: 1-3/4"
• Peghead Veneer Wood: West African Crelicam Ebony
• Scale Length: 24-7/8"
• Peghead Inlay: Faux Pearl Meridian
• Peghead Type: Paddle
• Peghead Binding: None
• Peghead Finish: Gloss

Other

• Bridge: West African Crelicam Ebony
• Nut & Saddle: Black Tusq Nut, White Micarta Saddle
• Bridge Pins: West African Crelicam Ebony
• Strings: D'Addario XS Coated Phosphor Bronze Light (.012 - .053)
• Pickguard: Tortoise
• Tuners: Taylor Nickel with Nickel Buttons
• Strap Pin: Black
• End Pin: Black